news & events

Charlie Chaplin's Red Letter Days at the Slippery Rock Community Library - July 13Charlie Chaplin was a wonderful comedian whose movies and skits continue to entertain us today. Come join the library and SRU as we welcome Dan Kamin, Charlie Chaplin expert and annotator of Fred Goodwin's book Charlie Chaplin's Red Letter Days.

Open Hearth Cooking Class at the Old Stone House - July 15Prepare and enjoy the foods of the patriots, using their recipes and the hearth of the Old Stone House.

The Stone House historic cooking programs allow visitors to learn more about local history, while also learning the role of food and cooking in our rich past. Visitors enjoy a hands-on, interactive history education while sampling delicious dishes from long ago! Register here.

Kids History Fun Days - July 24-26Just a few days left to register for our Kids History Fun Days, coming up July 24-26!

Historical games, crafts, and colonial cooking experiences will give kids a hands-on encounter with the past - sign up today! Learn more here.

Slippery Rock’s historic Old Stone House will host its “Spooky Stories” Halloween festivities this fall, with plenty of thrills and chills for visitors of all ages. This year’s event is scheduled for Friday, October 28th from 5:30-8:30.

The Old Stone House will offer interactive storytelling, historical reenactments, and a variety of fun activities. The festive and family-focused event includes face painting, an apple press demonstration, candle dipping, folk music, and open hearth sugar cookies. Jennings Environmental Center will also return to the Stone House with a popular exhibit about bats.

PLEASE NOTE: Admission price is $5/person.

The Old Stone House is located in northern Butler County at the intersections of routes 8, 528, and 173, 12 miles north of Butler. The historic site is owned and managed by Slippery Rock University.

Shout Out for the Humanities

Our first ever Shout Out for the Humanities Contest was held on March 1st at the Smith Student Center. Seventeen entries from SRU students were displayed and judged by Karen Pierce, Kevin Lukacs, and Judy Silva. Submissions were creative and thoughtful, and included video entries, essays, artwork, posters, and poems from History, Philosophy, Art, English, and Physics majors. Faculty with the most entrants included Dr. Andrew Winters, Dr. Barbara Westman, and Dr. Aksel Casson.​The contest winners were: First place, senior Adam Riddle; second place, junior Joseph Szalinski; and third place, senior Casey Squires.

We would like to thank our excellent judges as well as Danette DiMarco, Tim Oldakowski, Andrew Winters, Aaron Cowan, Lia Paradis, Paula Rieder, Barbara Westman, Arlene Ford, and Aksel Casson, the faculty who assisted with the workshop and who acted as advisors to our contestants.

We would also like to thank our sponsors, Wise Physical Therapy and the Office of Transformational Programs.

Humanities Ladder

Last semester marked the first session of the Humanities Ladder, a project to provide humanities-based enrichment to underserved students local high schools. In the fall, Dr. Jason Hilton and Dr. Tim Oldakowski taught at Aliquippa High School, teaching students modes of critical thinking. Students openly participated, asking questions and working out problems in ways that, as one student stated, “helped me to think differently.” Thank you both for a successful first semester!​This semester’s Humanities Ladder faculty are Dr. Lia Paradis and Dr. Aksel Casson. For those interested in teaching next year at Aliquippa or Union High School, please contact Laura Coulter at laura.coulter@sru.edu.

Upcoming Events

Ethics BowlSaturday April 23, 9 am to 12 pmThe Stone House CPH is co-sponsoring the 2016 SRU Ethics Bowl, an event in which teams of 3-5 students engage in friendly, competitive debate over a variety of contemporary moral issues. We are currently seeking faculty to volunteer as judges, moderators and mentors for this event. Judges and moderators will be needed on the day of the event (April 23), while mentors should meet with their teams in the weeks leading up the event. Contact andrew.colvin@sru.edu or andrew.winters@sru.edu for more information.

Homebrewed History: “Beer and Medieval Europe”Saturday, April 2 from 2 to 4 pm, Old Stone HouseThe latest installment of the Homebrewed History educational series will focus on medieval European brewing history and recipes. Guests will be able to sample two brews based on authentic medieval recipes: and English ale and a Belgian trippel. Dr. Paula Rieder will offer a presentation on the evolutionof brewing from domestic, women’s work to a male-dominated enterprise during the late medieval period. Tickets for the event are $25, and can be bought online at this link.

Batik exhibit: “Here and There”Saturday April 9 and Saturday April 16 from 2 to 4 pm, Old Stone HouseOld Stone House presents “Here and There,” a batik exhibit featuring works by students from SRU and Gdansk, Poland. Dr. Barbara Westman, professor of Art, assembled the pieces for the exhibition which will include hands-on activities mimicking the wax-resist technique used in making batik designs. School-aged children are encouraged to try the activities. Admission is free.